Collegiate Information

Collegiate Preseason Procedures and Game Day Procedures

The Game Day Procedures are outlined by USA Rugby South and will be followed by every team in the Florida Rugby Union during the Collegiate National Championship Season. Failure to follow any these procedures will result in a forfeit by the offending team.

All Collegiate Eligibility Forms must be faxed (813)547-9754 to the FRU Collegiate Director before your teams first game of the Spring season so they can be cross checked with Match Rosters. Policies and Procedures concerning competitions refer to the USA Rugby South Handbook for League Competition explanation.

Collegiate Post Season Procedures

All teams competing in post season competition will be responsible to complete all National Championship Collegiate Registration Forms per USA Rugby requirements. These forms must be presented at all USA Rugby South Play-Off events and teams continuing to the USA Rugby Play-Off events must submit forms within the required amount of time to USA Rugby. For all forms and requirements click here.

Collegiate Player Eligibility

USA Rugby Eligibility Regulations govern collegiate rugby across the United States, Territories, and Local Area Unions. These regulations shall be followed by every Florida Rugby Union Collegiate team to be eligible to participate in any game leading to a National Collegiate Championship. The USA Rugby Eligibility Regulations can be viewed from the following link: USA Rugby Eligibility Regulations.

The regulations for the USA Rugby South Collegiate Men's Division I "B" Side eligibility can be viewed from the following link: USA Rugby South Collegiate Men's Division I "B" Side eligibility

Any questions concerning these regulations please contact one of these members of the Eligibility Committee, Lori Doty or Kristin Richeimer

Collegiate Club and Individual Participation Program (CIPP) Registration

USA Rugby requires every team and every player for that team to be registered in the CIPP. Also every coach for the team must be registered with a separate form to verify background information. All team and player registration will be verified prior to each game by the referee. The Team form, the Individual Player form the Coach form and the Summary form that needs to be sent as a cover sheet.

Some Schools Student Governments may pay for membership fees to USA Rugby and may require an invoice prior to sending a check. USA Rugby will provide an invoice by faxing the completed Request for Invoice form.

To check any teams and/or players CIPP status go to the USA Rugby Website.

USA Rugby South Collegiate Divisional Criteria

The Divisional assignments are determined and maintained by USA Rugby South. There are three different Men's Divisions and two different Women's Divisions. The Men's Division I has a separate competition structure modeled around one conference with a home and away schedule. The final top two teams in the division will represent USA Rugby South at the USA Rugby Sweet Sixteen competition, location varies. The Men's Division II and III are modeled around four separate conferences that determine the top four teams, which play in the USA Rugby South Final Four Championship to determine the top team out of each division. The top team out of Division II represents USA Rugby South at the USA Rugby Elite Eight competition, location varies, and the top team out of Division III represents USA Rugby South at the East Coast Championship, location varies.

Here are the USA Rugby South Men's Collegiate Divisional Criteria.

The Women's Division I has two conferences that determine the top four teams, which play in the USA Rugby South Final Four Championship to determine the top team out of each division. The top team out of Women's Division I represents USA Rugby South at the USA Rugby Sweet Sixteen competition, location varies. The Women's Division II has three conferences that determine the top four teams, which play in the USA Rugby South Final Four Championship to determine the top team out each division.
The top team out of Women's Division II represents USA Rugby South at the USA Rugby Elite Eight, location varies.

Here are the USA Rugby South Women's Collegiate Divisional Criteria.

Florida Rugby Union Collegiate Teams Conferences Assignments

Men's Division I	Men's Division II Conf. C	Men's Division III - Conf. G
University of Florida	Florida State University	Eckerd College
	University of Central Florida	Florida Atlantic University
	University of Miami	Florida International University
	University of South Florida	Nova Southeastern University - Future
		Rollins College - Future
		University of North Florida
		University of Tampa - Future
Women's Division I Conf. A	Women's Division II Conf. B	Women's Non-Conference Division II Teams
Florida State University	University of Central Florida	Eckerd College
University of Florida	University of South Florida	Florida Atlantic University

FRU Collegiate Team Officer Responsibilities

The Officer Responsibilities are a guideline to get your teams administration set up and the lines of communication established with Florida Rugby Union Officials. The Officer Responsibilities are detailed here.

Future Expansion of Collegiate Teams in the Florida Rugby Union

Men's Collegiate

Now that Men's Division I and Division II Collegiate teams are solidly established the push to create a new Conference of Division III teams in the FRU has started.

The thought is to model the conference after the NCAA Division II Sunshine State Conference which includes the following teams:

• Eckerd College
• University of Tampa
• Barry University, Florida Southern University
• Florida Institute of Technology
• Lynn University
• Nova Southeastern University
• Rollins College
• St. Leo University.

Eckerd College is already an established team and competed in Division II for the last few seasons. The team is being aided by the Bay Area Pelicans and is going to be the anchor of the new conference. University of Tampa has made contact with Union Officials about starting a team, which Bay Are Krewe has agreed to aid in their development. So the push is on to get the conference established and competing in USA Rugby South in two years. This is a diagram of current and potential collegiate teams in the State of Florida.

A list of potential colleges that seem most viable for rugby teams are the ones in the Sunshine State Conference and there are established men's teams that could pair with them to aid in their development. If half of these schools started rugby teams it would be enough to have a USA Rugby South Division III Conference with just Florida teams. Here is a list of teams that would be a good fit:

• Miami Rugby Club - Barry University
• Fort Lauderdale RFC - Nova Southeastern University
• Boca Raton Rugby Club - Lynn University
• Brevard RFC - Florida Institute of Technology
• Ironhorse Rugby - Rollins College
• Tampa Bay Titans Rugby - Florida Southern University
• Bay Area Krewe Rugby - University of Tampa
• Tampa Bay Titans Rugby - St. Leo University
• Bay Area Pelicans - Eckerd College.

This is a diagram of Florida Rugby Union Teams, which demonstrates the proximity to the potential college teams.

Any Teams that need information on how to contact schools/students or information on what it takes to start a club please contact the FRU Collegiate Director.

Women's Collegiate

The Florida Rugby Union has several well established women's teams, which have helped foster many new clubs in the Union. There is now a need to get some of the clubs up to playing eligibly in the USA Rugby South Conference system. There needs to be three to four teams before a Florida Rugby Union Women's Division II Conference could be formed. The Women's teams that are non-conference Division II teams need to be in eligible status by the end of this Spring so at the next USA Rugby South a proposal can be made to have an FRU Conference for the Spring 2005 Season.

If any assistance is need please contact he FRU Collegiate Director.